What if, in the 1800s, hippos were introduced to the Louisiana marshlands to be farmed as an alternative food source? This little known actual historical possibility is would introduce whole new branches of capitalism, agriculture and animal husbandry, and of course, crime.
These two novellas, collected with two new short stories in American Hippo, introduces the swashbuckling hero (or maybe anti hero) Winslow Houndstooth, one time hippo rancher and now contractor for hire trying to solve the problem of the feral hippos slowly taking over the Mississippi. Winslow puts together a crack team of swindlers, con artists, and killers and attempts to pull off the biggest hippo heist ever.
Full of action, romance, daring deeds, and sly nods to several genres, these books are the hippo wrangling thrill ride I didn’t know I needed- with the most diverse cast of shady characters ever seen in a Western. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Sarah Gailey, and these novellas were no exception. The two new short stories in this collection were just icing on the hippo cake.
